Poly Alpha Olefins (PAOs) are known and used as lubricating oils or in lubricating oil formulations. PAOs are typically dimers, trimers and tetramers of 1-octene, 1-decene and/or 1-dodecene and are made by a two-stage process such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,045,507. Alpha olefins can also be oligomerized by metallocene catalyst, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,078 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,129,197. Other synthetic lubricating oils are esters or alkylated naphthalenes. Highly refined fractions of crude oil are also used as lubricating oils.
Each of these classes of lubricating oil have physical and chemical properties that make them useful as a lubricating oil. Nonetheless, there is still a need for lubricating oils with improved properties. This is particularly the case as the demands on lubricating oils increase.